Harvester-truck.



- No. 730,700. v PA'IENTED JUNE 9. 1000. J. W. PRIDMORE & B R. BBNJAMIN.

HARVESTER TRUCK- APPLIOATIOR FILED DBO. 2. 1001.

H0 MODEL.

INVESTORS.

A'i'TbRNEYfi.

WITNESSES:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Patented Tune 9, 1903.

JOHN T. PRIDMORE AND BERT R. BENJAMIN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORSTO INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATIONOF NEW JERSEY.

HARVESTER-TRUCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 730,700, dated June 9,1903. Application filed December 2, 190] Serial No. 84.349. (N0 model.)

To all whomit may concern:

Be it known that we, J OHN W. PRIDMORE and BERT R. BENJAMIN, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inHarvester- Trucks; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

It is quite common nowadays to provide agricultural or other machines,especially harvesters, which owing to their excessive width have to bedrawn endwise along roads or through gates or other openings, with meansfor the temporary attachment thereto of supplemental truck-wheels bymeans of which the machines may be drawn from one place of use toanother; and the object of the present invention is to provide animproved construction of attachable and detachable stub-axles for suchwheels, together with means whereby the axles may be temporarilyattached to the machines without the employment of special devices forsecuring them in place.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein-Figure 1 is a stubble-end view of a harvester with ourimprovedtruck-wheels in position. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same,illustrating the location of the truck-wheels and the bearing-bracketsby means of which their axles are temporarily secured to themachineframe. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the bracket through whichthe main body portion of the axle passes.

Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a view of the bracket for the inner end of the axlecorresponding to Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a sectional view ofthis end bracketin the plane of the axis of its socket, and Fig. '7 is a top edge viewof the outer bracket. I

Referring to'Figs. 1 and 2, a and 1) denote the lateral or cross sillsof themachine-frame, and 0 indicates one of the fore-and-aft sills. Themain driving-wheel is indicated at d and is arranged to be raised andlowered with Fig. 4 is a cross-sec tion of said bracket through the lineA B of respect to the machine-frame in bridles or guides, secured to thefore-and-aft sills, one of said bridles being denoted at e.

The truck-wheels are shown atf and may be of any preferred pattern andconstruction. These wheels are journaled upon the outer ends ofstub-axles g, which ends are cranked or dropped below the main length orbody portion of the axles, as shown at h, for the purpose of securingthe requisite height of the machine without the necessity of employingtruck-wheels of large diameter.

As above noted, the employment of special devices to hold thetruck-axles in position is dispensed with, and the main characteristicof the invention is that the axles are automatically held in place intheir bearings by the weight of the machine, the axles being soconstructed and positioned that this weight tends constantly to forcethem inwardlywith respect to the machine and effectually holds them inplace and prevents their accidental displacement while in use, and yetwhich I permits them to be quickly and easily detached when the weightofthe machine is transferred to the main wheel without the necessity ofreleasing any fastening devices or any movement of the axles other thandrawing them straight out of their bearings. To this end themachine-frame has rigidly fastened to it or formed upon it twobearingbrackets for each axle, one, i, through which the main bodyportion of the axle passes and which is preferably secured to the underside of and depends from one of the cross-sills of the machine-frame,and the other, is, into which the inner end of the axle fits and whichis preferably fastened to the fore-and-aft sill 0. Each of thesebrackets is provided with a socket to receive and hold its axle, and thesockets are constructed, as will be hereinafter more particularlydescribed, to fit the axles snugly, so that they have no movementtherein other than the one necessary to insert or withdraw them in linewith the sockets axis. 7

As illustrated in Fig. 1, the inner bracket 713 is located in a planeabove that of the outer bracket i, so that the axle when in place has apitch or inclination inwardly and upwardly I chine transferred from thetruck-wheels to its own supporting-wheel, thereis no longer anything tohold the truck-axle in its bearing, and itand its wheel may be drawnendwise therefrom Without particular effort.

As the outer portions of the truck-axles are cranked, as abovedescribed, it is necessary to provide some means for preventing themfrom turning in their bearings, and we avail ourselves of an oldexpedient for this purpose by making the outer portions of the axlesangular in cross section and making the sockets in the bracketsthroughwhich this portion of the axles pass also angular. The inner end of theaxles may or may not be angular in cross-section; but, whether maderound, as herein illustrated, or angular, the sockets in the innerbrackets 7r should be similarly constructed.

WVe preferably make the axles square in cross-section, and the socketsin the brackets 2' are also preferably square, and we prefer to arrangethem diagonally, as shown in Fig. 3, so as to locate the greatest Widthof the axle in the plane of greatest resistance.

NVe believe it to be entirely new to utilize the weight of the machineas the sole means of holding the truck-axles in their bearings, and, sofar as this more effect is concerned, it is not material whether theaxles are positioned in the manner above described or whether they besimply provided with an inclined portion or have an incline secured tothem at the point where they pass through the outer brackets i. WVeprefer, however, to form the axles as shown in Fig. l' of theaccompanying drawings, where it will be seen that the main body portionis inclined at an oblique angle to the end where the truckwheels arejournaled, and it is advisable to form collars Z or flanges on theirinner ends to abut against the brackets is and prevent the upper wallsof the sockets with inclined surfaces m to more effectually availourselves of the weight of the machine as the. means for holding theaxles in place. It is also desirable to provide the lower wall of thesocket with an oppositely-inclined surface m on the opposite side of themedian line ofthe bracket.

quire renewal, it is especially desirable that they be made so as to bereversible or applicable to right or left hand machines. We provide forthis by making thebracketsias more particularly illustrated in Figs. 3and at, where it will be seen that the inclined surfaces m m areduplicated on opposite sides of a plane 0000, that passes centrallythrough the brackets and is perpendicular to the axis w 00' of theirsockets. This plane must also pass through the center-of the bolt-holesor other point of attachment of the brackets to the frame-sills, as bestshown in Fig. 7. As will be understood, thebolt-holes in themachine-frame or Whatever other form of attachment is employedarelocated in the same relative position on right and left handmachines, and the object in constructing the brackets, as abovedescribed, with all their bearing-surfaces and points of attachmentduplicated on opposite sides of the median line, is to enable them tofit other kinds of machines, so that they may be taken from stock atrandom, and any one may be substituted fora similar bracket on any givenmachine or any given bracket may be applied to either a right or lefthand machine.

It is not important in the case of the inner brackets that their socketsshould have the same inclined bearing-surfaces as are provided on thebrackets z;-but, if desired, they may be made with similar internalinclines, and in any event the inner ends of the axles are made to fitthem snugly Without play in any direction. These inner brackets are alsomade reversible, so as to be applicable to either kind of machine abovedescribed in precisely the same manner as explained in connection withthe outer brackets-that is to say, both brackets are constructed so thatthe internal bearing-surfaces of the socket and the face of the bracketwhich fits against the part of the machine to which it is to be secured,as well as the bolt-holes by means of which it is fastened in place,must be exactly duplicated and equal in size, shape, and

extent on opposite sides of a plane 00 00 that is perpendicular to theaxis 00 of the socket and passes centrally through the point or pointsof attachment of the bracket to the machine. This matter will be betterunderstood by reference to Figs. t and 7, where, in the latter, a topedge view of the bracket vi is shown, so as to illustrate the divisionof the bracket into duplicate halves by a plane passing centrallythrough the two points of attachment n n, and in Figs. 4 and 6, wherethe IIO formation of the bearing-surfaces of both sockets is shown as ofexactly the same shape axles in the sockets of the brackets 71 it is to'be noted that it is entirely independent of any particular manner ofgetting them into the sockets or preventing them from turning after theyget there-that is to say, it is unimportant, so far as this feature isconcerned, whether the sockets are closed on all sides and the axles areinserted endwise or whether they are open below and the axles are simplypassed upward thereinand, if desired, the sockets need not be angular,provided some other means be employed to prevent them from turning incase cranked or dropped axles be used or in case larger wheels areemployed, when of course it would not be necessary to drop the axlesbelow the brackets.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is- 1. Thecombination with the frame of a harvester or other machine, of anattachable and detachable stub-axle for a truck-wheel, and a socket onthe machine-frame adapted to receive and temporarily hold the axle, saidaxle having an inwardly and upwardly inclined surface on which thesocket bears.

2. The combination with the frame of a har vester or other machine, ofan attachable and detachable stub-axle for a truck-wheel, and a socketon the machine-frame adapted to receive and temporarily hold the axle,said socket having an outwardly and downwardly inclined interiorsurface, and the axle having an inwardly and upwardly inclined surfaceon its upper side.

3. An attachable and detachable stub-axle for the truck-wheels ofharvesters or other machines, having that portion on which the weight ofthe machine rests extending inwardly at an obliquely-upward inclinationto the end forming the axis of the wheel.

4:. The combination withthe frame of a harvester or other machine, of anattachable and detachable axle for a truck-wheel, a pair of sockets onthe machine-frame to receive and temporarily hold the axle, the socketfor the inner end of the axle being located in a higher plane than theone through which the body portion of the axle passes.

In testimony whereof We aflix our signa tures in presence of twowitnesses.

JOHN W. PRIDMORE. BERT R. BENJAMIN.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM WEBBER, BERT BOWMAN.

